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Rounding cuts number of call lights by 3,000

Quality Improvement Monitor, August 1, 2008

Six months after the telemetry unit at Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville, KY, implemented hourly nurse rounding, the number of patient falls decreased, patient satisfaction increased, and call light use dropped by more than 3,000 per month.

“The managers round on all of the patients every day,” says Amy Robinson, RN, a nurse manager at the 200-bed facility. “One of the questions we ask the patient is, ‘Does someone always come in as soon as you use your call light?’ And we often hear, ‘Oh, I never use my call light because they’re in here all the time.’ ”

The hospital began hourly rounding on Robinson’s 25-bed telemetry unit in March 2007 to reduce patient falls. In February 2007, the unit had five falls. That number dropped to one in April, although it took six months before the program was really hardwired. The director of patient care excellence, Lisa Benner, organized the project.

“We have a high population of elderly patients, so [telemetry] seemed like a good place to start, and, indeed, we did find that our falls went way down,” Robinson says. “Patient satisfaction went up, which we saw as a bonus. But the biggest thing was patient safety.”

Some nurses initially feared that it would add to their workload. “One of the things that we tried to really get across to the staff is that this isn’t something extra; you’re already doing this,” Robinson says. “All we’re doing is giving you the verbal tools for what you’re already doing to help your patients feel more comfortable.”

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